Recently when purchacing new tires the dealer tried to sell me on having my new tires “sniped” wich as you may know means having new tire treads finely sliced about a half inch deep all around the tire. The dealer claimed increased millage (mpg) better traction in snow and rain etc. I was not convinced to have my new tires sliced up without some advice from someone besides the salesman. I would like to know what the general opinion is reguarding sniping.

Siped, not Sniped, which would presumably involve being attacked by a tax-evading Hollywood action star.

I agree with you. Silly practice. Tire companies spend millions of dollars and billions of cycles on computer modeling to design the best tread pattern for that particular tire, and this guy wants to slice it up with an Xacto knife. No thanks.

I did read one bit about siping, though I forget where, that tire companies don’t engineer sipes in mostly b/c their tires have to be molded for production speed and that you can’t get the razor thin “sipe” with a mold. So they just don’t do it but that’s the only reason why.

I’m not saying I think its a good idea or that the above is true. I only know how to spell it & that’s about it. I’ve never had a siped tire, never had anyone offer, and never knew anyone who siped their tires.

It has been a long time, but I did see some test results. It appears that on ice, it provides a small, but meaningful, improvement in traction. It also reduced tread life of the tyres.
Today designs may have changed.